Wire wrapping tool



May 5, 1964 T. A. GULEZfMI 3,131,731

WIRE WRAPPING TOOL Filed Jan. 25, 1962 y 2 Sheelzs-Sheefl 1 INVENTOR. 2 THOMAS GULEM/ ATTH/VEY j May 5, 1964 "r. A. GULEMI 3,131,731

WIRE WRAPPING TOOL Filed Jan. 23, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

THOMAS 1. GULEM/ BY A from/EY 1 United States Patent O 3,131,731 WIRE WRAPPING TOOL Thomas A. Gulemi, Bellerose, N.Y., assigner to Sperry Rand Corporation, Great Neck, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Jan. 23, 1962, Ser. No. 168,063 4 Claims. (Cl. 140-117) This invention relates to wire wrapping tools and particularly to tools for wrapping Wire around electrical terminals, for example of the type mounted on terminal boards or chassis.

Prior art devices as shown in U.S. Patent No. 2,655,953 Wind the wire spirally around the electrical terminal and depend upon the wire to deforrn the terminal to provide a good electrical connection. The prior art devices have several limitations. First, the spiral wrapping of the wire on the terminal prevents more than one wire being connected to a terminal. Second, to provide a tight connection usually requires special rectangularly shaped terminals in lieu of the conventional cylindrical terminals in order that the wire ycan be secured to the terminal by deforming the edges of the rectangularly shaped terminal. Third, severing any excess wire requires a separate operation.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a wire wrapping tool for wrapping a single turn of Wire around a xed terminal and severing the excess Wire in one operation.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a wire wrapping tool which wraps a wire around a fixed terminal, severs the excess Wire and crimps the Wire after it has been severed in one operation.

The above objects are achieved by a tool having a rotatable member mounted within a hollow cylindrical fixed member in which one end portion of the rotatable member cooperates with the associated end portion of the xed member to receive, sever and crimp a Wire around an electrical terminal during one rotation of the rotatable member.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a wire wrapping tool;

FIG. 1A is a top view of the wire wrapping tool of FIG. l;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of the work engaging portion of the tool of FIG. 1 taken along lines 2 2 showing the elements in their initial position;

FIG. 3 is a side View of FIG. 2 taken along lines 3 3;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged View similar to FIG. 2 showing the position of the elements when severing the excess wire; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view similar to FIG. 2 showing the position of the elements when crimping the Wrapped wire.

Referring to FIGS. l and lA a hand-actuated Wire wrapping tool is shown for purposes of example, it being realized that the present invention is also applicable to automatic operation. The tool 10 has a body member 11 consisting of a handle portion 12 and a hollow cylindrical member 13 connected to the handle 12. A solid rotatable shaft member 14 is coaxially mounted for rotation within the hollow cylindrical member 13. The rotatable shaft 14 is mounted for rotation around an axis 15 by means of a bushing 16 mounted in the upper portion of the handle 12 while the lower portion of the shaft 14 is journalled within the hollow cylindrical member 13 by having its diameter slightly smaller than the diameter of the axial opening through the member 13. The upper portion of the handle 12 has an opening 17 through which the upper portion of the shaft 14 projects. A pinion 20 is connected to the portion of the shaft 14 within the open- Vice ing 17. A rack 22 slideable in a slot 23 in the upper portion of the handle 12 is cooperative with the pinion 20 for causing the member 14 to rotate. The rack 22 is held within the slot 23 by means of a plate 18 screwed to the handle 12. The shaft 14 has a lip 19 at its upper end which in cooperation with the pinion 20 prevents linear movement of the shaft 14 in the direction of the axis 15.

The lower portion of an arm 24 is pivotally mounted on the lower portion 25 of the handle 12 while its upper portion is connected to the rack 23 by means of a pin 26. The pin 26 travels in a horizontal slot 27 in the handle 12 and a vertical slot 28 in the arm 24. The upper portion of the arm 24 is resiliently urged to the left as viewed in FIG. l by a spring 29 connected to the arm 24 and the handle 12 which resiliently holds the arm 24 in a predetermined initial position for reasons to be explained.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the work engaging portion 30 of the tool 10 consisting of the cooperative lower extremities of the members 13 and 14 will be described. The work engaging portion of the member 13 has slots 31 and 32 adapted to receive one end of a length of wire 33 to be wrapped. The work engaging portion of the rotatable shaft member 14 has an arcuate shaped boss 34 and an axial bore 35, the latter being adapted to loosely receive the fixed terminal 36 around which the wire 33 is to be Wrapped.

The boss 34 is in spaced relation with respect to the axial bore 35 in order that the wire 33 may be disposed between the boss 34 and the terminal 36. In the initial position of the tool 10 with the arm 24 resiliently urged to its leftward position as shown in FIG. 1, the boss 34 is in the position shown in FIG. 2. As the upper portion of the arm 24 is moved to the right, the operation of the rack 23 and pinion 20 rotates the boss 34 in a clockwise direction as indicated by the arrow. The boss 34 includes a forming die 4i) which cooperates with the wire 33 to cause the wire 33 to deform and pivot about the xed terminal 36 in a manner to be explained. The boss 34 further includes a cutting edge 41 which cooperates with the cutting edge 42 of the member 13 to sever the excess Wire 33 after the Wire 33 has been partially wrapped in a manner to be explained. Preferably, the leading edge 43 of the boss 34 is undercut to guide the wire 33 during the forming and cutting operations and to prevent the wire 33 from slipping out of place.

In operation, the end of the Wire 33 to be Wrapped is placed adjacent the terminal 36. The tool 10 is held in a vertical position as shown in FIG. 1 and aligned with the terminal 36 and the Wire 33 in order that the terminal 36 projects within the axial bore 35 and the wire 33 projects through the slots 31 and 32 and is disposed between the terminal 36 and the boss 34 as shown in FIG. 2.

To wrap the wire 33 around the terminal 36, the fingers of the human operator (shown in dotted lines in FIG. 1) apply a force causing the lower portion of the arm 24 to pivot on the lower portion 25 of the handle 12. The upper portion of the arm 24 is thereby urged to the right as viewed in FIG. 1 against the resilient pressure of the spring 29. The movement of the arm 24 is transmitted by the pin 26 causing the rack 22 to slide and rotate the pinion 20 and thus the member 14. As the boss 34 of the member 14 rotates clockwise as shown in FIG. 2, the forming means 40 urges the wire 33 to pivot about the xed terminal 36 thereby wrapping the wire 33 around the terminal 36.

When the Wire 33 is adjacent the cutting edge 42 as shown in FIG. 4, the cutting edges 41 and 42 cooperate to sever the excess wise 33. Under continued pressure by the human operator, the boss 34 continues around in a clockwise direction and the forming die 40 crimps the wire 33 as shown in FIG. 5. When the boss 34 reaches the position shown in FIG. 5, it is prevented from rotating further by the pin 26 abutting against the right end of the slot 27. Thereafter, the arm 24 is released and the resilient force of the spring 29 returns the arm 24 to its initial position as shown in FIG. l causing the boss 34 to return to its original position as shown in FIG. 2. The Wire 33 has been wrapped around the terminal 36 in a single plane in order that more than one wire may be wrapped around the terminal 36 and the excess wire having been severed does not interfere. The tool 10 is removed by raising it olf the terminal 36 and it is ready for another operation.

While the invention has been described in ite preferred embodiments, it is to be understood that the words which have been used are words of description rather than of limitation and that changes within the purview of the appended claims may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit ofthe invention in its broader aspects.

What is claimed is:

l. In a hand tool for Wrapping a wire around a fixed terminal and severing the excess wire, a body member including a hollow cylindrical fixed member having one portion adapted to receive one end of a length of wire and further including a first cutting edge adapted to assist in severing the excess Wire, a rotatable member coaxially mounted for rotation within said hollow cylindrical member, one portion of said rotatable member having an axial bore adapted to loosely receive one end of said fixed terminal, said one portion of said rotatable member further including a forming die cooperative with said one end of said wire and in spaced relation with respect to said axial bore in order that said one end of said Wire may be disposed therebetween thereby causing said wire to be wrapped around said terminal in a single plane during rotation of said rotatable member, said one portion of said rotatable member further including a second cutting edge cooperative with said first cutting edge for severing the excess wire after it has been partially Wrapped around said fixed terminal, and means associated with said body member for rotating said rotatable member.

2. A hand tool of the character described in claim 1 in which said forming die is caused to rotate beyond the position where the wire is cut thereby crimping said wire for securely fastenng it to said terminal.

3. A hand tool of the character described in claim l in which said one portion of said rotatable member further includes guiding means cooperative with said forming die and second cutting edge for guiding said one end of a length of wire during the forming and cutting operation to prevent the wire from slipping out of place.

4. A hand tool for wrapping a wire around a fixed terminal and severing the excess Wire comprising a body member including a hollow cylindrical fixed member having one portion adapted to receive one end of the length of wire and further including a first cutting edge to assist in severing the excess wire, a rotatable shaft coaxially mounted for rotation within said hollow cylindrical member, a pinion secured to said shaft, an arm pivotally mounted on said body member, a rack positionably connected to said arm, said rack being cooperative with said pinion for rotating said shaft in accordance with the movement of said arm, resilient means connected to said arm and said body member for resiliently urging said arm to a predetermined position, one portion of said rotatable member having an axial bore adapted to loosely receive one end of said fixed terminal, said one portion of said rotatable member further including a forming die mounted with one end of said wire and in spaced relation with respect to said axial bore in order that said one end of said wire may be disposed therebetween thereby causing said wire to be pivoted upon and wrapped around said terminal in a single plane during rotation of said rotatable member, said one portion of said rotatable member further including a second cutting edge cooperative with said first cutting edge for severing the excess wire after it has been partially wrapped around said terminal, and means for limiting the arcuate travel of said forming die t0 less than 360 thereby wrapping, cutting and crimping said wire in a single plane.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,743,502 Reck May l, 1956 2,934,100 Huber et al Apr. 26, 1960 

1. IN A HAND TOOL FOR WRAPPING A WIRE AROUND A FIXED TERMINAL AND SEVERING THE EXCESS WIRE, A BODY MEMBER INCLUDING A HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL FIXED MEMBER HAVING ONE PORTION ADAPTED TO RECEIVE ONE END OF A LENGTH OF WIRE AND FURTHER INCLUDING A FIRST CUTTING EDGE ADAPTED TO ASSIST IN SEVERING THE EXCESS WIRE, A ROTATABLE MEMBER COAXIALLY MOUNTED FOR ROTATION WITHIN SAID HOLLOW CYLINDRICAL MEMBER, ONE PORTION OF SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER HAVING AN AXIAL BORE ADAPTED TO LOOSELY RECEIVE ONE END OF SAID FIXED TERMINAL, SAID ONE PORTION OF SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER FURTHER INCLUDING A FORMING DIE COOPERATIVE WITH SAID ONE END OF SAID WIRE AND IN SPACED RELATION WITH RESPECT TO SAID AXIAL BORE IN ORDER THAT SAID ONE END OF SAID WIRE MAY BE DISPOSED THEREBETWEEN THEREBY CAUSING SAID WIRE TO BE WRAPPED AROUND SAID TERMINAL IN A SINGLE PLANE DURING ROTATION OF SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER, SAID ONE PORTION OF SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER FURTHER INCLUDING A SECOND CUTTING EDGE COOPERATIVE WITH SAID FIRST CUTTING EDGE FOR SEVERING THE EXCESS WIRE AFTER IT HAS BEEN PARTIALLY WRAPPED AROUND SAID FIXED TERMINAL, AND MEANS ASSOCIATED WITH SAID BODY MEMBER FOR ROTATING SAID ROTATABLE MEMBER. 